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Magnetochemistry 2015, 1, 1-2; doi:10.3390/magnetochemistry1010001
OPEN ACCESS
magnetochemistry
ISSN 2312-7481
www.mdpi.com/journal/magnetochemistry
Editorial
Magnetochemistry: An Old Discipline with New Opportunities
Carlos J. Gómez-Garcí
a
Instituto de Ciencia Molecular, Parque Científico, Universidad de Valencia, C/JoséBeltrán,2,
46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +34-96-3544423;
Fax: +34-96-3543723
Received: 18 May 2015 / Accepted 18 May 2015 / Published: 19 May 2015
Even if the moment is not featured in “Youtube” and the story might have not been exactly as we
have been told, we can easily imagine the surprise of the Cretan shepherd named Magnes when he
observed for the first time that a black stone in the region of Magnesia (in northern Greece) attracted the
iron tip of his crook almost 4000 years ago. This mysterious property happened to be almost
simultaneously used by the Chinese people to create the compass and since then, key applications of this
“magical” phenomenon have not ceased to upspring until today, ranging from the generation of electrical
current to hard disks and spin valves. Magnetic materials attracted not only iron but also the attention of
many researchers from many different scientific areas. In fact, magnetism is a very interdisciplinary field
that has been studied, developed and explained by Physicists, Biologists, Mathematicians and, of course,
by Chemists. Magnetochemistry refers to this last perspective. Although commonly defined as the study
of the magnetic properties of chemical compounds, magnetochemistry is much more than that. May be,
in its infancy it was simply that, but nowadays it constitutes a multidisciplinary field where chemists not
only study the magnetic properties but design and synthesize chemical compounds with the desired
magnetic properties. This aspect constitutes, in fact, the most important revolution in magnetochemistry.
Of course, the initial study and understanding of magnetic properties was a necessary fist step. This
study allowed chemists four to five decades ago to establish the models and mechanisms explaining the
magnetic behavior of such kind of compounds. Once these mechanisms where understood, the use of
crystal engineering and our knowledge of coordination chemistry rules (how ligands coordinate and
connect metal centers) has led to the synthesis of thousands of new chemical compounds with interesting
magnetic properties often leading to new phenomena. Thus, in about half a century we have passed from
the study of paramagnetic compounds to describe the magnetic interactions in polynuclear complexes,
magnetic chains and more complex 2D and 3D magnetic networks. These studies led to empirical and
theoretical magneto-structural correlations that have allowed the synthesis of new classes of magnetic
materials with very promising properties, such as molecular magnets, spin crossover complexes, single
molecule magnets, single chain magnets, spin valves, magnetocaloric materials, magnetic nanostructures
(including superparamagnetic nanoparticles), spin-based qubits, etc.
Magnetochemistry 2015, 1
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Of course, the study of all these new materials has pushed Chemists and Physicist to develop new
theoretical models to understand and predict their properties. These models are now able to predict the
behavior of magnetic materials and provide important clues and hints to guide synthetic Chemist to
design and synthesize better and more interesting new systems. This has indeed allowed new challenges
to become conceivable. The fascinating properties of magnetic materials at nanometric scales or at the
molecular level renders this area a promising platform in the design and exploitation of functional
devices for their applications in Nanotechnology. Additionally, scientists are now able to implement
additional functionalities to magnetic materials, such as photoactivity, electric responses, catalytic
behavior, sensing capacities, etc. This is giving place to new generations of compounds capable of
integrating magnetism with other properties in a synergic manner, offering new functional opportunities.
The field of magnetochemistry has, thus, attained maturity and at this moment has become an
important source of materials with interesting applications. This privileged status renders
Magnetochemistry a very appealing and challenging interdisciplinary field where many different
researchers are and will be producing paramount contributions.
The new open access journal “Magnetochemistry” is addressed to all these researchers.
Magnetochemistry is a new open access journal devoted to cover all aspects of magnetochemistry, from
basic magnetism, including theoretical calculations and models, to applied magnetism, including
magnetic materials and devices. The aim of this journal is to provide a rapid publication channel in an
open access basis for researchers working in any field related to magnetochemistry. Some of the topics
to be covered include: theoretical models and calculations in magnetism, crystal engineering of magnetic
materials, molecular magnetism, single molecule, ions and chains magnets (SMM, SIM and SCM), spin
crossover (SCO) materials, magnetic nanostructures, magnetic porous coordination polymers or
metal-organic frameworks (magnetic MOFs), magnetic recording, quantum manipulation of the spin,
magnetic multifunctional devices, etc.
The journal will publish rapid communications, articles and review articles with no publication charge
during 2015 and 2016.
Besides a wide diffusion of the published articles, warranted by the open access basis, authors will be
provided with free PDF versions of their contributions.
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).